The Secretary-General has taken note of the preliminary findings by the international observer missions that the second round of the Ivorian presidential election on 28 November was conducted in an overall satisfactory and credible manner. He also recalls that his Special Representative has found the elections to have been conducted in a democratic climate, despite some regrettable incidents.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The Secretary-General, on behalf of international humanitarian organizations, is calling for $7.4 billion to provide urgent humanitarian aid to 50 million people in 28 countries worldwide.
The Secretary-General welcomes the holding of the second round of the presidential election in Côte d'Ivoire, despite some violent incidents in various areas of the country. He calls on the Ivorian parties and candidates to refrain from announcing the results in advance of the Independent Electoral Commission.
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, has been in Haiti since yesterday. She is there to highlight the need for a much stronger international and national response to the cholera epidemic.
The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by the escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula caused by today’s artillery attack by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on the Yeonpyeong Island. He condemns the attack — one of the gravest incidents since the end of the Korean War — and calls for immediate restraint.
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, will visit Haiti tomorrow and Wednesday to review the humanitarian response to the cholera outbreak.
The Secretary-General will travel to Lisbon, Portugal, this weekend, where he will attend the high-level meeting on Afghanistan, to be held under the aegis of NATO. He will also participate in the joint press conference with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and hold several bilateral meetings with world leaders gathered in Lisbon.
The Secretary-General called Daw Aung San Suu Kyi today to personally greet her following her long-awaited release from detention. He reiterated his commitment and that of the United Nations to uphold the cause of human rights and support all efforts by the Government, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all other stakeholders to build a united, peaceful, democratic and modern Myanmar.
Addressing the Security Council today in its meeting on Sudan the Secretary-General said that he remains concerned by delays in the preparations for the referendums, partly resulting from considerable national funding shortfalls, and calls for all remaining obstacles to be removed so that the Referendum Commission can take key decisions without delay.
Ibrahim Gambari, the Joint Special Representative of the UN-African Union mission in Darfur, expressed deep concern at renewed violence between the Government of Sudan and the armed movements, most notably the Justice and Liberation Movement (JEM) and the Sudanese Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW) faction.